How To Design A Great Name Card?
Designing for the best name card printing may look like a simple task. However, creating your business card is not as trivial as one may end up thinking, as multiple parameters should to be taken into consideration. Before printing your name card, let’s look at the most suitable practices for designing one.
The layout of a name card:
A suitable and relevant format makes it possible to create a high quality business card.
The Classic layout
The standard size of a business card is an 85 mm X 54mm (or 8.5cm X 5.4cm) rectangle. It is the same size used for credit cards and therefore fits easily into any wallet or pocket.
Portrait or landscape layout
A business card can be presented vertically (portrait) or horizontally (landscape). The landscape layout remains the most used.
To highlight a logo you can go for the portrait format. However, this layout represents a main disadvantage, that of limiting the content to the width of the card. Therefore, if your coordinates and or address are too long to fit in a portrait mode, the landscape format will be more suitable.
The two-sided layout
This layout is commonly used as it allows for doubling the communication surface.
Nevertheless, the graphic chart must remain consistent on both sides, while content printed on the rear side must be restricted to essential information.
The square layout
This layout features dimensions of 70 x 70 mm or 55 x 55 mm. These are usually more personal and worked cards. Conceived from a specific design, they are produced in small quantities.
The rounded corners layout
The rounded format adapts to all sizes of business cards and can be folded on 1, 2, 3 or 4 sides. This brings an additional aesthetic touch.
The mini card layout
A very artistic choice of name card layout, can be a mini card format of 7 cm by 2.8. It is however important, to be careful not to design a card that is too large and may be folded, lost or discarded if it cannot fit into a pocket or card holder.
Successful name card printing :
As stated above, the quality of your business card must be impeccable in order to establish effective communication.
The next crucial step to take in order to ensure high quality name card printing, is to make sure that your source files comply with the specifications requested by your printer. To check the results beforehand, do not hesitate to choose the preview option.
For optimal printing, it is recommended to verify that your file features the following :
- PDF format generated with your software (Photoshop, InDesign, etc.) rather than JPG.
- CMYK Colour Management
- A resolution of 300 DPI
- 5mm of unused Background (Card Cutting Safety Margin)
- 5 mm safety zone within the card. Your texts must not be glued to the edge of the card and remain inside this security margin. This avoids having a text or logo lost after the cutting process.
- Specific files for selective varnishing prints.
You can also choose different finishing touches:
- The matte lamination can be used to soften the rendering : this option is particularly appreciated in the wellness and health sectors.
- A glossy film coating brings out the colours.
- The selective varnishing highlights certain elements (logo, photo, etc.).
- The silver or gold gilding brings a touch of luxury.
- Translucent PVC printing for creative projects.
Finally, avoid choosing a printer that produces standardized or generic models. It would be a shame to have an average business card.
The graphic charter
Creating a successful business card requires a highly innovative graphic chart.
In order to ensure the readability of your business card, it is preferred to use fonts without serif (Arial, veranda) or with serif (Times News Roman, Garamond).
The size of the text must be at least 7.5 points. As for color integration, writing with a light color on a dark background and vice versa is highly advised for a more aesthetic outcome.
Mistakes to avoid:
- Pixelated logo ;
- Staggered layout in relation to your visual identity ;
- Using too many colors ;
- Writing all the text in the same size ;
- The use of images or illustrations (except for the logo) that are not in a resolution of 300 DPI and in CMYK/quadrichromy.